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Court documents suggest the RCMP has widened its investigation into the expense claims of Sen. Mike Duffy by obtaining campaign records for 12 Conservative candidates.

Sen. Mike Duffy, seen here arriving on Parliament Hill on June 5, resigned from the Conservative caucus last month in the wake of a revelation he had accepted a personal cheque from the prime minister's chief of staff to cover $90,172 in improperly claimed expenses.
(FRED CHARTRAND / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

Senator Mac Harb, pictured on May 29, is being investigated by the RCMP over his expense claims in relation to a property he sold two years ago.
(Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

OTTAWA—The RCMP has widened its investigation into the Senate expense scandal, with court records revealing police obtained documents related to a home once owned by Mac Harb, and the help Mike Duffy gave Conservative candidates in the last election.

A handful of documents released by the Ottawa courthouse Thursday show the RCMP Sensitive and International Investigations unit is treating the Duffy case as one of alleged breach of trust.

The RCMP confirmed last week it had launched a criminal investigation into the $90,172 Nigel Wright, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, gave Duffy, but the court documents reveal the Mounties have also turned their attention to Harb by getting details about a home he sold two years ago.

The Mounties were able to obtain all of the records requested so far — many of them publicly available documents already reported on by the Star and other media — without requiring a warrant.

Elections Canada provided the RCMP with the records for 11 Conservative candidates — where Duffy is listed as a supplier for having billed them for expenses related to travel and accommodations associated with his appearances on the campaign trail — on June 5, according to an exhibit report filed by Const. Jane Lee.

Elections Canada rules require campaigns to cover the expenses of senators who visit ridings or otherwise help local candidates during writ periods.

The court documents add another name to the list, revealing that Elections Canada also handed over the campaign records for another Conservative candidate, Robert Goguen, the MP for the New Brunswick riding of Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, on June 13.

The campaign return does not list Duffy as one of its suppliers, although Elections Canada does allow campaigns to cover expenses of senators directly, meaning his name would not have appeared in the records.

Goguen was not available Thursday to describe the role Duffy played in the campaign, but the senator did visit several ridings in the area in April 2011.

The RCMP also received a DVD containing Duffy’s declarations of primary and secondary residence, his expense claims, minutes of the May 28 meeting of the Senate committee on internal economy, budgets and administration — when senators agreed to refer the matter to the authorities — and a report from the clerk delivered that day detailing his travel claims on June 10.

Another DVD containing Duffy’s expense claims from January 2009 to March 2011 was provided to the RCMP three days later.

Senators are allowed to claim up to $22,000 annually in accommodations, meals and incidentals associated with a secondary residence in the National Capital Region so long as their primary residences are more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill.

Duffy has repaid expenses associated with the time he spent at his home in Kanata, about 22 kilometres from the Hill, while declaring his primary residence to be a cottage in Cavendish, P.E.I.

A report also filed by Lee says the RCMP seized “assessment roll information” from the municipal office related to a property in Cobden, Ont., about 115 kilometres northwest of Ottawa, on June 10.

The report refers to an investigation named “Project Amble”, but no more details are given.

Property records show Harb owned the property from 2003 to 2011. He had declared the address as his primary residence until he bought an all-season residence in Westmeath, Ont. in 2010.

Harb resigned from the Liberal caucus last month after the Senate internal economy recommended he reimburse expenses associated with his secondary residence in Ottawa — now totalling $231,649 — and he is challenging the finding in court.

“Sen. Harb has not been contacted by the RCMP and he will co-operate with authorities,” his lawyer, Simon Ruel, wrote in an email Thursday as he declined further comment.

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